Yoga Asanas for Weight Loss

   There has been an explosion of interest in yoga to reduce weight. Asanas, is a Sanskrit word which means pose. Hatha yoga which is often referred to as power yoga often consists of a series of poses designed to warm, stretch and tone the body. Traditionally, yoga was originally a spiritual practice, mostly taught by and performed by men in India and consisted of a meditation practice designed to elevate your level of consciousness.

  Yoga spread to the West in the last century and the meditation aspect of the practice has evolved into an athletic workout that is often at gyms and yoga studios where mostly women practice together in a large group. Often the goal of the student is to get more toned, more flexible and to relieve stress and tightness. There are many different styles of yoga which range from restorative and meditative to physically vigorous, challenging and demanding.


  The most popular style is hatha yoga and typically most of these classes have set poses which often start off in mountain or a standing pose after a short meditation or invocation. The next pose is usually a forward bend, followed by plank pose, which is basically a push-up. Sometimes this yoga asana for weight loss is followed by a low plank, also called chaturunga which is one of the most difficult poses since it requires a high amount of upper body strength.

  It then moves on to a pose called upward dog which is a deep arched backbend pose performed while on your stomach on the floor. The student then moves into a downward dog which means they lift their knees off the ground and using their hands and feet they are pushing away from the ground and putting their weight into their thighs and hips.

  From downward dog, the student then steps one foot in between their hands at the front of the mat and come to a standing lounge while curling their toes and staying on the balls of their backfoot while balancing on the front flat foot. The next yoga asana for weight loss is usually warrior pose which is a wide-legged standing pose which is also an intense hip opener while strengthening the legs and toning the arms. Often the next pose is triangle pose which is another wide legged standing pose and one arm is reaching up toward the ceiling and the other arms is lengthening towards to floor.

  Often the sequence repeats back to the first mountain pose to start the sequence again which has proved to be very transformative for yoga weight loss.

  Jasmine Kaloudis blogs about holistic lifestyle topics such as yoga asanas for weight loss and gluten free cupcake recipes on her blog.

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